Straw Bale Garden Update: July 21, 2017

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are hitting a very productive time of year with our straw bale garden! :) <3 I am bummed that I do not have pictures to show you! My tablet kicked the bucket a few days ago. I have taken photos on the digital camera but I haven't downloaded them yet. Here is a (hopefully quick) description of what where we are in the gardening process. :)

Zucchini
We have been in the "great zucchini boom of 2017" for quite a while now. In spite of the fact that we have known squash borers in our yard, they have continued to do fabulously! We only had one plant last year, which bloomed and died quickly. I was determined to out-zucchini the squash bugs this year. That apparently worked! lol The plants we raised from seeds are massive! I mean it, truly ginormous! 

When it was time to harden off and plant the zucchini, we were careful to plant them deep inside the straw bales. This was an attempt to protect their young necks/stems from the bugs. (I had read online that this may help keep borers away from the tender young stems.) We did the same with the single zucchini plant we brought home from the farmer's market. The payoff has been an abundance of zucchini, which we eagerly share with anyone who will take them. :)

There is one small thing... due to the size of the plants (and the tangle of other surrounding plants), we do not always find the zucchini in time. Add to that the fact that some of them grow *into* the straw bales and we keep ending up with huge zucchini! We are regularly pulling zucchini that are around 16" long and four pounds. Our largest (before today) was 4.5 pounds. Today, we pulled an 8.8 pound zucchini and one that is 7 pounds on the dot. Holy cow! lol

Spaghetti Squash
Our spaghetti squash are going crazy! The vines are winding around the tomatoes, over bales they aren't planted it, and even up my porch! haha We have one off of the vine already. The rest are fat, long, and ghostly white! :) <3 We will be cooking and buttering these babies in no time! 

Tomatoes
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!! We are eating tomatoes of many colors! Everything is growing! We have burgundy and green chocolate cherries, red and yellow sunrise bumblebee (also a variety of cherry), and large red and yellow big rainbow tomatoes. There are bright yellow tomatoes, deep orange tomatoes, plain ole' red tomatoes, and tomatoes which will eventually ripen and turn pink. (Those are my brandywine!) 

Right now we are in the beginning stages of the season. There are ripe tomatoes every day but they are mostly the different cherry and early girl varieties. Aka, small tomatoes. ;) We have brought in large tomatoes only twice, so far. Those are not ripening every single day yet. Even so, the vines are heavily laden! 

Oh, I am beside myself with joy!!! My dad would be *so* proud! I can picture him walking through this year's garden, harvesting and crunching on fresh veggies to his heart's content! I miss him *so* much! :') :') :') I will always treasure the memories of him walking through the garden last year. I will always wish to God that he were present to walk with us still.

Herbs 
Today, I clipped off more green basil, purple basil, and some parsley. Giraffe was beside herself when I found a black swallowtail caterpillar munching on the parsley. These are among our very favorite butterflies! She has brought him inside to continue his life cycle. We are all very eager to see him wrap himself in a chrysalis and then turn into a butterfly! Don't worry! We've brought him in plenty more parsley plants to eat!

Green Beans
We are just now beginning to harvest green beans! :) So far, we've brought in just a handful (since we're really busy this weekend) but there are more out there waiting to come inside. :) We learned today that Pomeranians are *huge* fans of fresh snapping beans! lol

Others
Okay, so I am completely running out of time here! haha The celery is growing well. Lettuce varieties are doing well. I am going to start another seeding of both lettuce and radishes in the next week. My cabbages are lovely! I have three beautiful purple heads that are growing well! <3 The green cabbage hasn't taken off well. That is on me. I planted them so late. Carrots continue to grow. It will be quite a while before we are snacking on them. (Another really late planting!) Green, red, and yellow peppers are flowering and growing wee little peppers. I adore my little peppers just as I do my children. (Not kidding!) These fat little pepper babies bring me such delight! 

Potatoes are growing but haven't flowered yet. Pumpkins are growing. We will be trimming down the plant soon so that all resources go to just two pumpkins. The butternut squash we planted in honor of my dad is vining but hasn't produced yet. (That was also planted weeks later than the rest.) 

Giraffe's cantaloup are still growing and flowering but no pollination has occurred yet. She will be quite upset if they don't begin to grow soon. She did a phenomenal job growing them last year. Our pollinators have really fallen away. This is a concern and an inconvenience to the life of our garden. :( 

I have a vine growing that could be either cukamelon or watermelon. Time will tell, on that one! My cucumbers did poorly this year. I will rethink their placement next year and put the time and effort into them that they deserve. I have greatly missed having fresh sliced cucumbers every day. 

Strawberries are growing and fruiting. Those were an incredibly last-minute addition not long ago. We are just waiting for them to ripen. The lilac  starts and other flowers are growing in different places in the yard. They are all very welcome additions. 

Have I forgotten something? Hmm... Oh! My cauliflower plants are being insane! They are all three growing really well, with huge leaves. That said, there is not one cauliflower head among them! I've never grown these before so perhaps this is normal. Maybe not, though. I need to invest some time and research into this.

The broccoli is not being so snooty. We've been using it for a week or so already. The last head I brought in was our biggest. :) No surprise, it is a favorite of caterpillars. We have found an abundance of caterpillars and slugs this year. They have done plenty of damage but nothing we cannot handle. :) In all, we seem to be keeping ahead of them enough to enjoy plenty of produce.

Anyway, I cannot remember if I have forgotten more. I am sure there are other things growing out there that I cannot recall right this moment. lol I am in quite the hurry and have to run! This will do for now. :) We are having a booming year in the straw bale garden, in spite of the immense lack of effort once we planted them all. Yaaay!!! I haven't even broken out the diatomaceous earth yet. Gracious! We've only fertilized once. (Ooops!) You can see that this is such an easy method of gardening that even a complete dummy can manage it. ;) :) 

I will do better, soon! I promise! lol